Domain Monetizer Parked.com Picks Up WhyPark

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Parked.com, a company that specializes in monetizing – you guessed it – parked domain names, has acquired WhyPark, a 3-year old startup based in Willoughby, OH that provides domain name owners with tools to attract traffic to the web addresses with simple websites as well as tools to manage their portfolio and buy and sell domains on a virtual marketplace. The terms of the acquisition remain undisclosed.

WhyPark essentially allows domain owners to trade in the usual advertisement-filled landing pages that are so common with parking providers for content-driven websites that are supposed to draw organic traffic from search engines (scary line alert: “populate your sites with fresh content daily, without lifting a finger”). WhyPark also allowed users to monetize their sites in a variety of ways, a service that directly competed with Parked.com’s core business.

That means that both companies were in fact rivals to a degree, and that the acquisition means there’s good synergy between them, but at the same time it’s worth noting that Parked.com has always boasted about its exclusive focus on monetizing domain names and steering clear from all other associated services. This obviously is no longer the case now, and with WhyPark becoming part of the 10-year old Parked.com, the combined entity will continue to compete with Sedo (the juggernaut in this space) and the likes.

As Domain Name Wire points out, WhyPark as a result of the acquisition is moving to a free model instead of charging new users a $99 set-up fee like before.

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Crunchbase

OverviewSedo offers our users all the tools needed to buy and sell domains among a community of users stretching around the world, including domain appraisals, brokerage services, promotion and last, but not least, Sedo's popular domain parking program.